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Produced by the Eastern Turkistan Information Center No: 69 14 Novemeber 1997 In this issue: (1) CHINESE AUTHORITIES REENFORCE "STRIKE HARD" IN KASHGAR 11/12/97, Eastern Turkistan Information Center (2) TEACHER IN KASHGAR IS DEPRIVED OF HIS POLITICAL RIGHTS 11/10/97, Eastern Turkistan Information Center (3) AN IMAM IS KILLED IN AKSU 11/06/97, Eastern Turkistan Information Center (4) RED IMAM'S BETRAYAL 11/13/97, Eastern Turkistan Information Center (5) HOW TO COOK LAMB? XINJIANG HAS MANY ANSWERS 11/07/97, Reuters, By Jane Macartney (6) RIVER BEING DUG IN OIL CITY 11/10/97, Xinhua (7) MARKET TRADE THRIVING IN KAZAKH BORDER AREA 11/04/97, Urumqi Xinjiang Ribao, FBIS Translated Text (8) PRC NOTES 'BUMPER' COTTON CROP 11/04/97, Beijing Zhongguo Xinwen She, FBIS Transcribed Text *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= (1) CHINESE AUTHORITIES REENFORCE "STRIKE HARD" IN KASHGAR 11/12/97, Eastern Turkistan Information Center [ETIC, 11/12/97] Recently, the Chinese authorities began to reenforce their political campaign called "Strike hard" in Kashgar and surrounding areas. Under a pretext of cleaning the society from "splittists", about 300 Uyghur houses were searched by police and the security service. The situation in Kashgar is reported very tense because of these activities. The authorities are afraid of possible disturbances in the city which was a capital of Islamic Republic of Eastern Turkistan established in Kashgar on November 12, 1933. [Kiyan] (2) TEACHER IN KASHGAR IS DEPRIVED OF HIS POLITICAL RIGHTS 11/10/97, Eastern Turkistan Information Center [ETIC, 11/10/97] In early November, a prominent Uyghur intellectual and religious figure Abdulhamit Damollah was expelled by the authorities from his position of an imam of the Tokkuz Tash mosque in Kashgar. He was deprived of his right to vote, and, from now on, he can not take part in any political activities. Abdulhamit was also expelled from a position of a member of a political council of Kashgar prefecture, and from a position of a deputy chairman of independent traders association. It is believed that the reason for his punishment was a speech that Abdulhamit made before a religious service in a mosque. Addressing to a congregation, he, in particular, said: "In the past, the oppressive rulers deprived the Uyghur people of education and science, economic and technical progress, and kept the people in ignorance and superstitions. The only way out for the Uyghurs from the present grim situation is education, and everyone should do his best to promote it." A year ago, the authorities shut down the Languages Institute in Kashgar of which Abdulhamit was a director and a teacher. More than 1000 students, mainly teenage girls, were deprived of an opportunity to learn foreign languages. [Kiyan, Rabiyem Yakub] (3) AN IMAM IS KILLED IN AKSU 11/06/97, Eastern Turkistan Information Center [ETIC, 11/06/97] On November 6, an imam Yunus Damollah was killed in Bay county of Aksu prefecture. It was reported that, addressing to a congregation, he cited verses from Kur'an to justify policies of the communist Chinese government in Eastern Turkistan. He also used insulting expressions for the Uyghur mujaheddins who struggle for independence of Eastern Turkistan. [Abdullah Pamir] (4) RED IMAM'S BETRAYAL 11/13/97, Eastern Turkistan Information Center [ETIC, 11/13/97] On November 1, an imam Memtimin Qari Haji of Heytka mosque in Kashgar locked up 15 young Uyghurs in the mosque, called police and kept the Uyghurs locked until the police arrived and arrested them. The young people did not want to pray standing behind of "red imams", and came half an hour before the Sham Namaz service.[Rabiyem Yakub, Bishkek] (5) HOW TO COOK LAMB? XINJIANG HAS MANY ANSWERS 11/07/97, Reuters, By Jane Macartney KHOTAN, China, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Searching for a recipe for sheep's head? The cooks of Xinjiang know the secret. The scent of mutton fat lingers in the air in China's westernmost region where Uighur Moslems are the majority, pork is virtually taboo and ethnic Han Chinese must accustom their palates to the more pungent flavour of lamb. ``We people in Xinjiang can cook mutton in every possible way,'' boasted one Han Chinese official in the ancient Silk Road city of Khotan. ``There is almost no part of the sheep that we don't eat.'' In most of China, mutton is not popular. Han Chinese prefer the more delicate flavour of pork, although lamb is popular among northerners in the winter when it is prepared in highly spiced hot-pots that mask much of the meat's stronger taste. Among the Uighurs of Moslem-majority Xinjiang, mutton is ubiquitous. Pork is frowned upon, to say the least. The meat is supposed to be on sale for Han Chinese only in special streets and markets, well out of sight of the Uighurs.
The first topic of conversation among travelling Uighurs is the price of lamb. In the bustling Sunday bazaar in China's westernmost city of Kashgar, farmers line up their flocks of fat-bottomed sheep for sale to the city's butchers and haggle for hours over the quality and price of their livestock. From market to meatplate the journey is swift. And for those who enjoy mutton, the fare is varied. Mutton makes its first appearance of the day at the breakfast table, the meat minced with spring onions, stuffed inside a bun and steamed. Breakfast eaters with hardier taste buds may prefer ``zhua fan'' or ``grabbed rice'' -- a concoction of rice, raisins, nuts and grated carrots fried in swirling mutton fat that is eaten with the hands. The consumption of mutton does not stop there. In need of a mid-morning snack? The peckish can pause on the pavement to nibble on mutton kebabs created by hawkers who roast skewered chunks of meat and fat over burning braziers.
Xinjiang is famed for its mutton kebabs and proud locals crow over why their kebabs are Xinjiang's best. ``In Kashgar, the sheep eat vegetation that is rich in herbs so the meat itself tastes better than anything you can find in the rest of Xinjiang,'' said Kong Fuxi, director of foreign affairs for this famed Silk Road bazaar and trading post. Kashgar's kebabs are renowned for the spicy powder of chillis and cumin that cooks sprinkle over the meat. But Khotan also vies to produce the tastiest kebabs. ``This is a desert region and we have virtually no rain and that is what makes our mutton special,'' said local official Mohammad Nur. ``It means the salt is very concentrated in the grass and it gives the mutton much more flavour than meat from other parts of Xinjiang,'' he said. ``The taste is already in the mutton.'' Maybe that is why Khotan's kebab sellers only dust their meat in spices, just accentuating the flavour of the juices. Uighur cooks do not limit their ambitions to kebabs. Still hungry? How about a flaky bun, made by bakers who stretch out their dough, paste it liberally with mutton lard, roll the strip into a sausage-shaped roll and steam it. A favourite lunch dish is noodles floating in a spicy soup of tomatoes, peppers, onions and chunks of mutton.
Diners who have kept their appetite in check until dinner can enjoy a feast. Minced mutton baked in pastry, thin-skinned boiled mutton dumplings, mutton roast in spices, fried sheep's intestines, mutton fritters and fresh cuts of meat sliced from a whole lamb roast on a spit. For special occasions, a host will order his cook to prepare the piece de resistance -- sheep's head boiled in soup. Its ears trimmed and eyes removed, the head is placed before the guest of honour whose privilege it is to plunge the first knife into the skull. Lesser diners finish off the rest. ``The cheek is delicious,'' said one recent satisfied banqueter as he plunged his chopsticks into the dish of sliced sheep's head. (6) RIVER BEING DUG IN OIL CITY 11/10/97, Xinhua URUMQI (Xinhua) -- A 22-metre-wide river will be dug through Karamay, an oil city in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, said Chen Hanyang, deputy director of the Xinjiang Petroleum Management Bureau. "The river will help with water supply for the desert city, making it possible to cultivate 30,000 hectares of farmland," he added. River digging has been going on since June, and the river flow will come from the Ertix River through a 450-kilometre irrigation canal, which is also being built. About 400 million cubic metres of water will be carried by the river a year, providing western China's biggest petroleum base with a sufficient water supply for daily use and irrigation. "The construction of the 3.8 billion yuan ($470 million) water diversion project has been in full swing, and water will come through the Karamay river in 1999," Chen said. The city's name, Karamay, means "black oil" in the Uygur language. (7) MARKET TRADE THRIVING IN KAZAKH BORDER AREA 11/04/97, Urumqi Xinjiang Ribao, FBIS Translated Text With the five-star red flag fluttering in the skies, the Korgus ethnic trade market is permeated with a dynamic atmosphere. In the spacious parking lot on the Kazak side, over 30 20-tonne Kamas heavy-duty trucks are continuously "devouring" one after another cargo of goods; porters are pushing and moving carts around quickly; stevedores are working in tandem loading and unloading freight; the customs and commercial inspection personnel are busying themselves examining goods and signing bills. These are the scenes that this reporter has witnessed at the Korgas Trade Port in Huocheng County. According to director An Jianzhong of the market management department, the current daily transactions average 2.5 million yuan, with the largest daily record of 5 million yuan. The total volume of transactions in the first nine months of this year already reached 420 million yuan, exceeding the total amount for last year. The accumulated trade volume of the past five years since the market's founding was over 1.2 billion yuan; and some 25 million yuan in taxes has been delivered to the state. Currently the market's annual economic efficiency is top among markets of the same kind in China. It is understood that commodities traded in the market consist of more than 2,000 varieties in eight categories, including shoes and hats, garments, articles for daily use, foods, and farm and sideline products. They come from over 1,000 enterprises in various parts of the country, except for Taiwan and Tibet. The development and prosperity of the market had a significant, positive impact on the economic and social development of Huocheng County and Ili Prefecture. Aikebaier, director of the Huocheng county party committee's propaganda department, summed up the market's role in the following four aspects: 1) It has given strong support to the local financial budget. The market has delivered more than 10 million yuan to Huocheng County annually, which accounts for one-sixth of the county's annual financial revenues. 2) It has spurred the local tertiary industries and opened up ways leading to prosperity for farmers, herdsmen, and Production and Construction Corps farm workers. Since the beginning of this year, some 800 people have been engaged in labor and service work daily in the market. 3) It has increased the local people's market awareness and trained many successful managers. 4) It has absorbed a number of laid-off workers and idle personnel to the benefit of social stability. (8) PRC NOTES 'BUMPER' COTTON CROP 11/04/97, Beijing Zhongguo Xinwen She, FBIS Transcribed Text Beijing, November 4 (CNS) --- A bumper cotton harvest this year has resulted in the largest volume in five years to be purchased from farmers. As at October 25, the total volume of cotton purchased this year by the Chinese government from farmers amounted to 1.94 million tonnes, a rise of 917,500 tonnes, or 89 percent over the same period in 1996. Business has been flourishing since cotton purchasing began during the second half of August, much earlier than in previous years. In Xinjiang Province, farmers hoping to sell all of their 1.15 million tonne output to the government had sold 675,000 tonnes by October 25, 329,500 tonnes more than the same period last year. With the exception of Zhejiang Province, whose crop suffered from the effects of typhoons, all other cotton producing regions have increased cotton output and subsequent sales. Prepared by: Abdulrakhim Aitbayev (rakhim@lochbrandy.mines.edu) and Bill Mitchell (turpan@ix.netcom.com) WUNN newsletter index*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= The World Uyghur Network News electronic newsletter is produced by the Eastern Turkistan Information Center (ETIC) in cooperation with the Taklamakan Uighur Human Rights Association (USA), and is devoted to the current political, cultural and economic developments in Eastern Turkistan and to the Uyghur people related issues. Eastern Turkistan (Sherqiy Turkistan in Uyghur) is a name used by the indigenous people of the region for their motherland located in what is at present the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic China. The World Uyghur Network News brings information on situation in Eastern Turkistan from the Uyghur and other sources to the attention of the international community. *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= EASTERN TURKISTAN INFORMATION CENTER |